Ladybug
by Tuulikki
Summary: For I luv Kai's unusual pairings contest. And believe me, this is unusual... Weevil x Shizuka. Takes place after Jou and Weevil's duel in Battle City. Please RR, I'd like to know how I did with this... eh, I still can't believe I actually wrote it.


So, as I said in the summary, this fic is for I luv Kai's unusual parings contest. Weevil/Shizuka. ^^;; Unusual enough for me… when I first time saw that all I wanted to do was to scream, and _loud_, but… the whole idea was so absurd that I just had to write this. ^^

This takes place after Jou and Weevil's duel in Battle City. I haven't seen those episodes myself so I'm sorry if there are some things which aren't accurate. This is based on some episode summaries I've read.

Yes, I know. I'm using Shizuka's Japanese name and Weevil's English name… So?

*stares at the fic* It… turned out weirder than I had thought. I mean… this is almost fluffy! Almost, but _still_. *shudders* Fluffy Weevil fic… I need help.

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Although days like this I feel almost crazy enough to claim I do… ^^

~*~

**Ladybug**

_"Welcome to Loserville, Weevil. Population: you." _[1]__

He couldn't believe it. This whole situation was something totally – _absolutely_ – unbelievable. He had lost. Again. The first time, with Yuugi in Duelist Kingdom… that he could almost explain away – anyway, that weird kid was a wizard with the Duel Monsters cards, but _this_…! Losing to that fool.

_Fool you're yourself,_ a small sarcastic voice commented in the back of his head.

_Shut up,_ he told it, but the voice didn't pay any attention to him.

_Doesn't this just prove it? A lost duel or not, getting into this kind of a situation isn't…_

"Shut up, I said!"

A nurse walking in the other end of the corridor startled and threw a weird look at him. Weevil returned the look with an angry glare, and the woman continued on her way. With a sigh he dropped his gaze back to the floor he had been staring at.

_Okay, I'm a fool. So what?_

But the voice had fallen silent. 

_Figures._ I _wouldn't want to speak with myself right now._

A pair of feet in white shoes and socks stopped beside him.

"Underwood-san?"

He glanced up. "What?"

A nurse smiled down at him, all too patronizingly for his liking. "You can go soon, Underwood-san. You were lucky, all your injures were minor ones. That cut in the arm looked nasty, but it didn't need even a stitch after all. You…"

"I know that," he interrupted her irritatedly. "You said I can go now?"

She blinked once, looking a little offended at his rude tone. "Well, we just have to wait till we get some papers, it shouldn't take long. During that time, I thought that we should talk a little, so if you'd follow me…."

With a grunt he got up from his bench, feeling the beginnings of a headache. He knew well what this talk would be like: a lecture of the dangers of alcohol, especially when you are a minor. He knew as well that it was unavoidable; he'd just better be happy that they had finally agreed not to contact his parents because of this. Now, _that_ would have made the day perfect.

~

Finally it was over. He had listened to the nurse preaching for almost half an hour, not daring to interrupt her for the fear of her getting insulted and deciding that it was her duty to inform his parents of his current misadventures. Now that the nurse had finally let him go he was all but flying from the place, half afraid that she'd suddenly call him back to tell him something she had forgotten to say.

Half an hour of his life wasted on anti-drinking preaching. He didn't even drink – usually, that is. This time… well, who wouldn't need a little something to cheer himself up after a defeat like that? And any of this wasn't really his fault… how could he help it if those idiotic drunkards (well, they had been a lot more drunk than he) didn't appreciate his Duel Monster cards and started to make fun of them? Honestly, what did people have against insects? He should have just ignored them, he knew that well – anyway, only an idiot would start fighting with three Schwarzenegger clones. 

Idiot.

He sighed.

Unbelievable mess. 

_I guess getting beaten up was just what I earned after losing my precious card… I_ still _can't believe he won._

"…wonder who you are, little one."

He blinked as he heard the quiet voice coming from a room he was just passing. The door was open and when he glanced in he saw a brown-haired girl standing by an open window her back towards the door. She was bent down a little as if examining something she had in hand. He stared at her for a moment and was just about to leave when she suddenly startled and turned to look at the door.

Or – she turned to _face_ the door, now he noticed that her eyes were covered with bandage.

"Is someone there?" she asked, hands cupped in the front of her chest.

Weevil moved to leave, but the girl's hands had caught his interest, and he couldn't help but wonder what she was holding in them.

"I was just passing by," he said, and the girl smiled.

"Oh, so there _was_ someone. I was afraid I had started to imagine things…."

Weevil automatically placed a smile on his lips before he realized that she couldn't see it and let it die away. "What do you have there?" he asked to satisfy his curiosity. 

The girl bent her head a little as if to look down at her hands. "I'm not sure… why don't you tell me?"

He stepped into the room and looked down at her hands. This time the smile that appeared on his lips was completely genuine. "Ladybug," he all but purred. "And a pretty one too…" 

As he raised his eyes from the ladybug that was wandering around the girl's hands his gaze stopped on her smile. 

_And so is she…_ he thought before he could stop himself. Well, probably that was just the annoying small voice talking again.

"I remember when I was in the park with my brother, long ago." The girl's voice made him start a little. "He caught me a ladybug then… it _was_ really pretty. Those were good days…" her voice got a nostalgic tone.

"I used to go to park when I was small to catch insects," Weevil found himself saying suddenly, and he frowned a little. Then again, what did it matter if he told this girl about his past? "Not that I kept them, I just wanted to examine them. I've always been interested in insects."

"Really? That's interesting." He took a sharp glance at the girl but saw no mockery on her face. "I've never met anyone before who'd have _that_ particular interest."

"You don't think it's weird?" he asked her cautiously. 

The girl shrugged. "No, not really. People just are interested about different things. Are you going to be an entomologist [2] or something?"

Weevil grinned, he just couldn't help it. He had been going to just exchange a few words with this girl to get his mind away from certain other things, but now her stocks rose sharply in his eyes. Anyway, she couldn't be totally worthless if she knew _that_ word.

"Maybe," he said. "I haven't decided yet. Umm…" Weird. It wasn't usually this difficult to come up with something to say.

The girl smiled again and offered him her hand while keeping the ladybug in the other.

"Kawai Shizuka. Who are you?" [3]

He took the hand smiling back at her. "I like that name… it's almost like Kawaii Shizuka," he said, making the girl blush a little. "I…"

Suddenly the girl gave a small yelp cutting him off. "Where did it go?!"

"Oh…" Weevil saw something small fly past him. "I see it! It's flying there…." As the ladybug sat on the wall he captured it carefully and took it to the window. "You'll be happier out there," he said as he let it fly out.

Shizuka walked to him with a small smile on her face. "It's nice to see that some people are kind to small creatures too," she said, and this time Weevil was the one to feel his cheeks turn hotter. 'Kind' really wasn't a word people used describing him.

"Well, I… I just like bugs… I mean… insects in general and… so…"

Shizuka laughed. "You're not used to compliments, are you?" she asked.

"Not from pretty girls," he said without thinking, and felt then his cheeks burn even hotter. "But insects are pretty cool," he continued hastily to change the subject. "Like, for example, all the different ways of communication they have. Take bees, for example, it's amazing how accurately they can tell their specimen the location of a useful source of nectar – by dancing! And the bees seem to have dialects; the details of the dance depend on the particular species and variety of the bee, and… uh. I'm not boring you, am I?"

Shizuka laughed quietly. "No, you aren't – not yet. Actually, I'm just glad to have someone to talk to." She sat down on her bed hands in her lap and looked a little troubled.

Weevil blinked as he looked at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked, and then mentally kicked himself. _Her eyes, idiot._ '_Is something wrong…'_ "Uh… your eyes… what's wrong with them, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Nothing, I hope," Shizuka said. "I've always had really bad eyesight and I was going blind… I've just had surgery, but I don't know yet if it succeeded."

Weevil drew a chair closer to the bed and sat down on it. "When can you take away those bandages?"

"Oh… I could take them away right now." She fingered nervously the said bandage on her temple. "But I don't want to do it yet, I want the first thing I see to be my brother. So I have to wait until I get to him."

"He must be really important to you." Weevil frowned, wondering what it would be like to have siblings. 

"Oh, he is. He always took care of me before our parents…" she hesitated for a moment, "…before they divorced. After that we have been living apart. And now he's been a great support for me… I'm not sure when I can see him though, he's in this duel tournament right now."

That awakened Weevil's interest. "Duel? Do you mean Duel Monsters? Is he a duelist?"

"Yes, he… what, are you too?" Shizuka turned her face towards him, excited.

"If I am." Weevil straightened a little. "I'm one of the best."

"Really!" She was practically beaming. "Do you know my brother then? Jounouchi Katsuya?"

"Well, I…" Weevil started to say, but then what Shizuka had said sunk in. For a moment he stared at the brown-haired girl in shock, and shook then his head. _This is a_ bad _day._

"Do you?" Shizuka prompted him impatiently. 

"Well… I know the name," Weevil said halfheartedly. "And I guess I've seen him sometimes…" Y_eah, and I guess he has my Insect Queen in his deck right now._

"If you see him, say hi from me." Shizuka smiled at him, completely unaware of his lack of enthusiasm of ever meeting her brother again.

"I will…" he muttered and got up. "Sorry, I have to be going now."

"Oh…" Shizuka looked a little disappointed. She got up from her bed too. "Well, it was nice talking to you. Hey, by the way, you haven't told me your name yet."

Weevil turned to look at her from the door. "I'm W… uh, Wesley Wood."

Shizuka smiled at him, once more. _She really smiles a lot…_

"It was nice meeting you. Maybe we'll see again some day… and I hope that then I can really _see_ you too."

"Yeah… hope so." With that he walked away.

~

The hot sun burning his neck, not even smallest breathe of wind to take away the horrible, suffocating heat… yes, he really _hated_ these heat waves. Bored, he watched with annoyance the people with whom he shared the park. He had never understood people who _voluntarily_ exposed themselves to the sun's unmerciful rays. Sun worshippers. He snorted. _Hope they all get skin cancer._

If he could have decided he'd have spent a day like this anywhere else but in a crowed park, where there really weren't any proper shadowy, cool places where to rest in _peace_. It had been long since he'd been last time in Domino City, and again, if someone had asked _him_, that was the last place where he wanted to be. Too many memories, most of them bad. He'd almost thrown a fit when his mother had told him that they were going to visit some distant relatives in Domino, and that he was going to come with them. As if that hadn't been bad enough, they had decided to leave on a picnic since it was such 'nice weather'.

_Nice weather to boil eggs on the pavement,_ he thought rolling his eyes. This kind of weather couldn't be good for insects either. They probably got roasted in the air… something small flew by him and he watched it lazily as it landed on his hand.

Ladybug.

With a sigh he shook his hand and the small bug flew away. _Even insects are against me today…._

With a sudden move he got up from the ground, startling his mother.

"Where are you going?"

"I just need to stretch my legs a little," he muttered and walked away.

An ice-cream stall with a long queue of children in the front of it caught his eye and he made his way towards it. He didn't really like ice cream, but at least it was _cold_. Anything cold was good when weather was like this. 

He took his place at the end of the queue, cutting in the front of two girls who gave him an angry look.

"I was here first," he grunted at them, and with an annoyed glance at each other they walked away, talking something about another ice-cream stall not far away. 

After almost getting headache from the whining, screaming and laughing of all the kids around him, he finally got his ice cream. Vanilla. And _cold_.

Licking it he began to wander away, trying to shut out all the noise around him. The screaming kids, barking dogs, teenagers with radios – why couldn't they use _walkmans_? 

"Hey, Wesley!"

It was quite unbelievable how so small children could produce such horrible sounds. Take that crying baby in the pram, for example…

"Wesley!"

He blinked. That voice sounded familiar. Turning to look behind he saw a brown-haired girl running towards him, holding an ice cream in both of her hands.

He blinked again. "Shizuka?" _What a day…._

"Hi!" The girl stopped beside him, grinning. "So it was you… I thought that I recognized your voice as you bought your ice cream. It's great to see you. _See_ you, got it?" She grinned again.

"Oh. So your operation was successful." 

She nodded, licking her ice cream – some yellow stuff, he wasn't sure what it was. The other ice cream was brown, probably chocolate.

"Yep. Hey, what are you doing here? Are you alone? You could come with…"

"No, I'm not really alone," he cut her off hastily. "My parents are over there," he gave a wave with his hand into a vague direction. "I think I have to go to them."

"Oh." Shizuka looked at him disappointedly. "I've… been thinking about you, and I hoped that now that we met again we could have talked a little… maybe you could have told me more about the bees." She flashed him a smile – a smile he remembered all too well. "Are you sure you can't come? Even for a while? My brother would want to meet you."

Weevil did his best not to grimace. _I'm not so sure about that…._

He shifted impatiently. "Yes… I'm afraid I can't. Maybe some other time…."

Shizuka looked at him thoughtfully, and suddenly he felt himself blushing. Lowering his eyes to the ground he began eating his ice cream, wondering how he'd get rid of this girl. He _really _didn't want to meet her brother. 

"Mmmm, vanilla isn't it?" Shizuka said softly. "May I taste?"

He almost choked on his ice cream as he heard that. _God… she isn't as innocent as she looks like._ [4] Raising his eyes from the ground he saw Shizuka's mischievous smile. A little crooked smile formed on his lips too, and he offered his ice cream to Shizuka, who took a small bite of it.

"It's not bad," she said licking her lips, "but I still prefer mango-melon. Want to taste this?" 

She offered her ice cream to him, and he licked it, ignoring the small voice in his head that practically screamed '_What the hell are you doing?!' _

"It's not bad," he echoed Shizuka's words. "You know," he continued thoughtfully, "maybe we could meet here later today? What about… at eight?" Anyway, they were going to spend few days at Domino, and it'd be easy to slip out at the evening. At least it'd be cooler then.

Shizuka hesitated for a moment, but nodded then. "Sure, why no…"

"Hey sis, what's taking so long?"

_Oh shit._

As Shizuka turned happily to wave at her brother with the ice cream Weevil turned on his heels. "Have to go now," he muttered.

"What?" Shizuka looked at him, surprised. "Why?"

"What the…" she heard Jou's angry voice from behind herself and glanced back, even more confused. "What the hell were you doing with my sister, creep!?"

With a sigh Weevil looked over his shoulder. "She's the one who came to talk with me," he grunted. 

Jou was standing hands on his hips in the front of his sister. Glaring the proverbial daggers at the other boy he hissed from between his teeth "Damn you Weevil… if you lay one finger on her, I swear you ain't going to live to see tomorrow."

"Weevil?" Shizuka blinked, now completely baffled. "But…."

"Just bug off, bughead!" Jou shouted as Weevil didn't say anything. "You stay far away from her." 

"Whatever." With a shrug Weevil turned away and began to walk towards his parents.

As long as he was able to see the insect duelist, Jou kept his eyes fixed on his back. When Weevil disappeared from sight, he grasped his quite melted ice cream form his sister's hand and began to drag her away. Shizuka followed him quietly, still trying to process this new piece of information.

~

With a defeated sigh he sat down on the bench. 

_This is ridiculous._

Half past seven he had told his parents that he wanted to take a short walk. They had been only pleased, he really wasn't any outdoor person. At seven forty-two he had been wandering aimlessly on the streets of Domino. At seven fifty he had noticed that he was really quite close to the park, and now, at seven fifty-eight, he was sitting on this damned bench beside that damned ice-cream stall.

_Ridiculous. As if she would come, after_ that…

He wasn't even sure if he wanted her to come. Girls had never interested him much, all his attention was focused on his ambitions. And yes, he had many of those. To become the number one duelist was only one drop in the sea….

But he had to admit that, for some reason that he didn't completely understand, he liked that girl. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she didn't laugh when he talked about insects, and neither did she seem to think that he looked like a psychopathic nerd. Admittedly, he didn't know that much about her, but she appeared to be kind and friendly… and pretty too.

_What am I going to say to her if she does come?_

That was a good question. He had an unpleasant feeling that she didn't have too positive attitude towards all the things he had done.

There were still people the park, but not as many as earlier, and thankfully, not as noisy. Actually, almost everywhere he looked he saw only couples walking together.

_What would it be like to have a girlfriend?_

Another good question, although one he hadn't been planning to think about. Not that he believed that he had any reason to start thinking about it anytime soon. _She isn't going to come. Why would she, anyway?_

"Hi." Someone sat down beside him. "Look, I found a ladybug."

Blink. "Shizuka?" 

She was smiling, once again, as she showed him the small ladybug running over her fingertips.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

He nodded slowly uttering a confused, more or less affirmative sound. 

"What… what are you doing here?" he asked when he finally found his tongue.

Shizuka raised her eyebrow. "We had a date, right? I wouldn't want to stand up my first date."

He nodded again, still quite astonished.

"Besides," Shizuka continued, staring after the ladybug that was flying away, "I said that I wanted to speak with you. When we met at the hospital I thought it was a little weird how soon you left when I began to speak about my brother. Now I understand that better, but…" The ladybug had disappeared from the sight long ago, but she kept on staring after it with a small frown on her face.

"Why did you do it?" She turned suddenly to look at Weevil, brown eyes solemn.

"Wha…what?" he squeaked, surprised, although he really shouldn't have been. 

"Why did you cheat? When you played against my brother, and Yuugi too."

"I… well…" _Gah, she could have come a little later. Maybe I'd have come up with some good explanations by then…_ _maybe. Maybe not._ He shrugged. "I was just trying to win. That's what it's about, right? And if you win by cheating, well, what does it matter in the long run? You're still the winner."

"Don't you think it would feel even better to win _without_ cheating?" He stared at her blankly and she shook her head, a little angrily. "Someone tell me why I'm even bothering…" she muttered under her breath. "Some people do play for other goals than winning," she continued then. "For most people, it's just to have fun. And some may want to win, but it is not just because of the fame."

"But cause of what, then?" he asked irritatedly. God how he hated it when people started preaching.

Shizuka sighed quietly, staring at her hands.

"I'm glad that Yuugi won in the Duelist Kingdom," she said finally. "He gave his prize money for me, for my eye surgery. I'd be blind now without that money."

"Oh." What was one supposed to say to something like that? "They're very pretty eyes…" Hmmm. Maybe that wasn't the best possible line.

Shizuka turned to smile at him. "Thanks." 

They stared at each other quietly for some time, for a random passerby probably looking just like any couple in love. After a while Shizuka broke their eye contact and turned to look down.

"I don't want to be with a cheater," she stated matter-of-factly.

Weevil blinked. "Well…" And he blinked again.

_C'mon idiot, say it now. What are you waiting for?_ _There's no time for wasting._ The small voice again. 

_Hey, weren't you some time ago shocked just cause we ate same ice cream? What changed your mind?_ The voice didn't answer him, though, it never spoke when he wanted it to. 

"Well…if I promise I won't do it again?" he looked at Shizuka tentatively and saw a little smile tugging the corner of her mouth. "I can even apologize to them, if you want me to." _Preferably not, though, but if I _really_ have to. Although…_ "Uh. Although I don't think it's a good idea that I go close enough to your brother for him to hear me. He isn't going to be happy about this…."

Now Shizuka laughed aloud. "Oh, just ignore him. He was almost as bad when he thought his best _friend_ was hitting on me. Overprotective, can you say? He'll grown used to it, some day." 

She turned to look at him again, the familiar smile back on its place. "Now… could you tell me something about bees? Or maybe… ladybugs?"

Returning the smile he leaned back on the bench. "Sure."

~*~*~

[1] What Jou said to Weevil after their duel (in anime, at least).

[2] An entomologist is a scientist who studies insects. 

[3] Shizuka has different surname than Jou, the name of their mother. Introduction in Japanese style, surname first and first name last.

[4] In Japan, kissing is a very intimate act that connotes strong romantic love, or even sexual foreplay. Touching with your lips to anything another person's has touched is considered an indirect kiss and contains a highly emotional content.

I wrote it. I can't believe I actually wrote it. And quite quickly too… this was finished in two days. Getting myself to proofread this, on the other hand… that took me long. ^^ Anyway, I hope they weren't too badly out of character.

So, now I've written a Weevil-fic and a songfic in Gozaburo's pov. Hmmm… what should I do next? :p (I know, seek professional help.)

Anyway, thank you for holding this contest, I luv Kai. This fic was surprisingly much fun to write. ^^ I don't think that it turned out to be anything great, but truthfully I don't care that much either, I wrote this mainly for my own pleasure. (-_-;; Yes, I know, I have weird pleasures.)


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